As far as the most important things to pay attention to, absolutely everything. They are worse than babies. Electrical cords, baseboards, furniture, nothing is safe. Much easier to puppy proof an area. I have an x pen attached to a crate but I know some people who have an area gated off for their puppy. My x pen is in a central location so that I can watch my pup all the time. When she started chewing the baseboards through the wire of the x pen, I immediately sprayed it with bitter apple and she stopped. When she started licking the electrical outlet through the wire. I put the baby cover on the outlet. When she started playing in her water dish, I bought one that attaches to the crate and raised it up so that she couldn't dump it everywhere. She was a really good pup and learned fast but I think that may have had a lot to do with the fact that I was able to catch unwanted behavior quickly and stop it before it became a habit.

Pick up everything off the floor and anywhere he can reach.
Get baby gates if there are areas of you house you dont want it to go.
Get bitter apple spray (although doesn't work for all dogs).
Have plenty of rags and puppy potty remover ready to grab.

Thats all I can think of at the moment, but I'm sure others will have more.

When she started licking the electrical outlet through the wire. I put the baby cover on the outlet.

Do you know if they have some sort of covers to go over cords that are plugged into the outlet. That is the part I worry about. We have the plastic things that plug into the outlet, but our pup has tried to go after the cord itself.

We put away everything we could, left out a few things we didn't care about thinking that when she went for these we could teach her to leave those things. We bought outlet covers, good thing too cause Sage licked them. I put my kitchen table in storage along with the chairs even...it's oak and I dont' want it "distressed" by puppy bites. I basically got on the ground to see what I could see from a puppy view. We stuck a box behind our couch to she couldn't get back there, put our ottoman and some wood around our entertainment center so she couldn't climb on it. We are slowly opening some of these things up and seeing how she does....so far so good

Thanks everyone so far for the great responses! And yes, he is coming...what did I get myself into haha??

So we already have a crate that will stay in our room and that's where he will sleep.

We also have an x-pen that we will put in our kitchen when he needs to take a break or if we have to leave him and I will make sure to pull that away from the walls/baseboards, which is something I didn't even think about him chewing on so thank you for reminding me of that! We also have puppy pads here waiting...but hoping to never use them...

Our house is pretty simple, and there's not much out that he can destroy, aside from the kitchen table, couch, and end tables. All of these things are things we actually would like to replace anyways, so if he does happen to destroy them, then at least I won't freak out. We decided not to buy new furniture until he's done chewing so hopefully that was one of our smarter decisions! We did just redo our kitchen though so the little monster better not chew on the cabinets or else he's going to have some explaining to do to the cabinet guy!

I am worried about the electrical cords...any advice on these? I didn't think about the outlets so if he decides to start licking these I'll run out and get some covers. But like Seagodess asked, what do you do about the cords themselves? Any advice?

The other thing I am worried about is our stairs. A baby gate wont work to block off our stairs due to the baseboards...does anyone have any ideas on how to block off the stairs without a baby gate that is also cat friendly?

I know one of our biggest problems is that our backyard still isn't finished, which means there is a big dirt pile back there. I have a feeling that puppy will be getting multiple baths the first week or so until the backyard is done! That should make for some cute pictures though

Something I wasn't expecting, keep all bathroom doors closed. They think it's great fun to destroy rolls of toilet paper. As soon as Bentley was tall enough to stand up & reach it he would go running through the house with it dragging behind him.

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Something I wasn't expecting, keep all bathroom doors closed. They think it's great fun to destroy rolls of toilet paper. As soon as Bentley was tall enough to stand up & reach it he would go running through the house with it dragging behind him.

Haha aww I can only imagine how cute that was, although I am sure a little frustrating! Actually, one of our cats does that now...so maybe the puppy and the cat will find common ground and team up to destroy toilet paper! But also not a bad idea to close bathroom doors...the other thing is I don't want him to learn that the toilet is another water bowl...although when he's young he wont be able to reach but it's good to start young!

I must admit that we didn't puppy proof the house, but did the garden. Check your garden - if there is a small hole in a fence you can guarantee the little monkey will find it - also be aware of what plants you have - some are poisonous I know there is a list on the forum about these (sorry can;t find it at the moment, but perhaps someone will be able to point you in the right direction). We found that small stones, pebbles were the attraction for Quinn and we needed eyes everywhere when he was outside - also we found to our cost that oak leaves are toxic (they gave him colitis).